Sunday, August 5, 2007

Here's the final batch of Taiwan photos. Next up will be the Japan trip photos.

Seafood prepared by my grandmother - very delicious, the sauce is terrific when poured on rice.

I suppose this is called glutinous oil rice (油飯) - the actual food is much tastier than its English name suggests. The ones that I can find in Vancouver are usually either quite dry or too oily - a sacrifice that one must make to live in such a beautiful country, I guess.

Its ingredients are actually quite plain - glutinous rice (obviously, as the name suggested), some Taiwanese or Chinese mushroom, oil, and perhaps some dried mini-shrimps for flavor.

Hopefully Starbucks won't come knocking on my door for photographing their symbol, but I've fallen under the habit of documenting meals and snacks. Actually, this cake was quite good.

didn't taste this one, but I'm sure it was delicious.

And here's another.

My family also visited the Shilin residence of the late-president/dictator, Chiang Kai-shek. The grounds are now open to the public with nice gardens.

The grounds also host a small cafe. I didn't go in myself, but according to the sign, it features breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, group dinners, and apparently, souvenirs.

OK, I lied, most of the residence is open to the public, but a small area remains closed. This picture shows the private building.

Still inside the residence grounds.

One of the area's many entrances.

Well, that's it for my Taiwan photos. Check back soon for pictures of Kyoto and Osaka.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Caught this outside Guanghua Bazzar, a 200 meter long street featuring hundreds of technology-oriented stores. You can find anything from USB adapters to digital cameras - literally anything that has anything to do with electronics, computers, and technologies can be found here.

Front entrance to Mondsee Restaurant in Shilin.

Excellent Caesar salad. The croûtons were freshly baked.

Playing around with my Canon 50mm f/1.8 II and checking out its depth-of-field.

Steak fillet - hands down the best I've had anywhere, especially at medium rare.

Tender, juicy, and easy to cut. Delicious.

This chicken looks very inviting. Too bad I'm already too full at this point, and it's not my dish, either.

At the Orchid & Elephant Thai Restaurant, which my uncle was kind enough to treat my family to. Great food, although the owner was a bit nervous when he (or was it a she?) saw me took out my camera and started shooting away at his/her dishes.

On the right is the soft-shell crab, curried chicken in the middle, and...well, you can tell what the rest are - all very delicious.

The restaurant's featured desert - no idea what it's called in English. And no, that is NOT tequila on its right hand side.

The desert contains an assortment of fruits, taro, and coconut milk.

After the thai restaurant, we visited Taipei 101. I've been inside the building previously, so this time we just visited the surrounding department stores. For those interested, the first few floors consist of a department store and a food court, while the rest of the building are offices. For a detailed description of Taipei 101, see here.

In the background is Taipei City Hall.

Eslite Bookstore. This branch contains approximately 8000 square meters, making it one of the largest bookstores in the Asia region.

A view of Taipei 101 from the Eslite Bookstore.

Meatball soup at the neighboring food court.

Beef noodles.

Taipei 101 at night.

After a day's walk, we sat down to enjoy some Taiwanese sausages - you wrap them in a thin flour shell and a little garlic.